1.13 How Daddy went to school
A bedtime story from 'When Daddy was a little boy' by Alexander Raskin
A story from a dad’s childhood, narrated to his daughter, written in 1961. Read the introduction below.
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HOW DADDY WENT TO SCHOOL
When Daddy was little he was forever sick. There wasn't one children's disease he didn't have. He had measles and mumps and whooping cough. After each illness he had complications. And when the complications were over, little Daddy was ready to get sick again.
When it was time for him to go to school, little Daddy, as usual, was sick. When he finally got well and went to school for the very first time he found that all the other children had been studying for quite a while. They all knew each other and the teacher knew them all. But no one knew little Daddy. Everyone stared at him. It was very unpleasant. All the more so, because some children even stuck their tongues out at him.
One boy tripped him on purpose. Little Daddy fell. But he didn't cry. He got right up and pushed the boy. Then the boy fell. Then he got up and pushed little Daddy. And little Daddy fell down again. But he didn't cry this time, either. He pushed the boy again. They would probably have gone on pushing each other all day long, but just then the bell rang.
The children went into the classroom and took their seats. Little Daddy didn't know where to sit. The teacher told him to sit next to one of the girls. Everyone began to laugh. Even the girl he was sitting next to laughed.
Little Daddy felt like crying. Then, suddenly, it all seemed very funny, and he laughed. Then the teacher laughed too. She said: "Good for you! I was afraid you'd start crying."
"So was I," said little Daddy.
Then everyone laughed again.
"Now, children," the teacher said, "I want you to remember that when you feel like crying, you should try to laugh. That's a piece of advice for the rest of your lives. Now let's get down to our studies."
That first day Daddy discovered that he could read better than anyone else in the class. He also discovered that his handwriting was worse than anyone else's. However, when everyone discovered that he talked more than anyone else throughout the lesson, the teacher shook her finger at him.
She was a very good teacher. She was strict, but she was kind. It was fun to learn things from her. And little Daddy remembered her advice all his life.
After all, this was his very first day at school. There was a lot of other days afterwards. There were lots of funny and sad, good and bad things that happened to little Daddy when he was at school. But that's another story.
THE END
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